Although Anthony Joshua and world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk have become training partners, promoter Eddie Hearn has not ruled out the idea of the pair having a third fight.
Usyk holds two victories over the Englishman and on Saturday fights kickboxer Rico Verhoeven on a bill in Egypt that Hearn is promoting.
Joshua makes his return to the ring in July against unheralded Kristian Prenga ahead of what is believed to be the long-awaited all-English heavyweight fight with Tyson Fury later this year.
While Fury has said his ultimate goal is a third fight with Usyk – who also has two victories over him – is Fury the endgame for Joshua?
That is not the case, said Hearn.
“His [Joshua’s] endgame is to win the world heavyweight championship again,” Hearn said. “But definitely there’s a couple of things that he wants to do. He wants to beat Tyson Fury and he wants to win the world heavyweight championship again. So our plan right now is the plan that we can see that’s in front of us, which is Prenga and Tyson Fury. We’ve got to win those two fights. If he wins those two fights, he can walk into any fight, any championship that he wants. But we’ve got to win those fights.”
Would Joshua’s friendship with Usyk prevent another fight with the brilliant Ukrainian southpaw?
“I don't think so,” Hearn said. “But boxing’s a funny old game. Part of AJ would always love to fight Usyk because he's got beat twice. And same with Fury. They’re competitors. They want to try and take him on again.”
Hearn said an announcement on Joshua’s Saudi Arabia undercard would come in due course and that a press conference would likely take place early in June.
“But it’s going to be a very strong domestic undercard,” he said.
Of course, it will be the first fight Joshua has had since the tragic car crash that claimed the lives of two of his closest friends. Joshua has not boxed since his December KO of Jake Paul in Miami.
“Everything that we’re seeing at the moment, his desire, his sparring, his training, looks great,” said Hearn. “But until you get in there, that’s when you’ve got to process everything that’s happened in your life and perform. I know everyone just presumes he’s going to walk in and smash Prenga to pieces, but I’ll be very pleased if he does, because there’s a lot of pressure going into this fight. Not just what’s coming after, but what he’s been through as well. And it’ll be a very emotional night.”
Joshua is 29-4 (26 KOs). He turns 37 in October and suffered back-to-back decision defeats to Usyk in 2021 and 2022, firstly in London and then in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
